Fleet operators must manage a large number of vehicles and drivers that are constantly spread out across a wide geographic area. With the rise in smart phone technology, many fleet operators want to take advantage of the benefits of mobile phones, and are now using targeted, line-of-business applications (“apps”) that help their employees gain access to information quickly and efficiently.
Rather than develop their own software, some fleet operators purchase third party mobile applications, to help manage their fleets. Fleet operators require specific software to manage their fleet operations such as FleetFocus™ by Assetworks.
Even though the mobile application is developed by a third party, it is desirable for fleet operators to host their data it in their own data centers. This poses a challenge when a fleet employee needs to connect a mobile application, which was downloaded from a central app store, to data that lives in the fleet operator's data center. For obvious security reasons, it is important to restrict access to this data to authorized individuals only.
Most mobile phone applications are available for download from large, popular sources such as an app store like Google Play® or the Apple® app store (iOS). A typical experience for the ordinary mobile user after downloading an app, is to enter some form of login credentials (or something creates new credentials) prior to the first use.
Currently, to access software and data located within a fleet operator data center using an app downloaded from an app store, a fleet employee needs to access a settings screen and configure the location of the fleet operator data, as well as perform other configuration steps before the app can be used. It is desirable to allow fleet employees using mobile apps a simple and efficient way to gain access to the fleet operator data center, such as a one-time verification using a username and password or a personal identification number (“PIN”).